JORDAN - Feb 16 - Military Prosecutor Indicts 13 Terrorist Suspects.

Government officials say a military prosecutor indicted 13 suspects on terrorist charges linked to the activities of suspected terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden. Officials say the 13 suspects - 11 Jordanians, 1 Iraqi and 1 Algerian - were charged with 11 counts this week. They were apprehended in Jordan in early December. One official, who is close to the investigation says the prosecutor, Lt. Col. Mahmoud Obeidat, "has concluded the investigation and the detained suspects are expected to stand trial at the State Security Court in late March". According to the government officials, if found guilty, the 13 suspects face the death penalty. A security official says the 11 charges include possession of explosives and weapons, affiliation with an outlawed group and conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and other tourists visiting biblical sites in Jordan. The official says the prosecutor identified the outlawed group during the interrogation as "Bin Laden's terrorist network". Other officials say interrogations gave police tips to a farm outside Amman where radio-controlled detonators and bomb making material were found. (The US government is seeking Bin Laden, a Saudi dissident, for the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden, who has taken refuge in Afghanistan, has declared a holy war against the US to protest the presence of US soldiers in his homeland.) The officials say the 13 cell members are to be tried separately from Khalil Deek, the alleged leader of the group. Police are also seeking 2 other suspects who are at large outside Jordan. (Deek, a dual American-Jordanian citizen, faces the death penalty in Jordan on terrorism charges. Deek has denied the charges. Government officials have said the suspects had planned bombing attacks at US and Israeli tourists during the New Year's celebrations. The targeted sites included Mount Nebo, where tradition says Moses saw the promised land, and a Christian settlement along the Jordan River said to be the site where John the Baptist baptised Jesus.)